An author named Michael Stadther has written a book called The
Treasure's Trove, about "...about twelve forest creatures whose
mates disappear after being crystallized by a dark dust that falls
every evening."

According to his Web site, www.atreasurestrove.com, "Concealed in
the pages of this wonderful, classically-written story are the clues
to twelve very real and very valuable treasures that are hidden
around the continental USA -- treasures similar to the crystallized
forest creatures in the story -- beautiful jewels worth over
$1,000,000!"

Master jeweler Robert Underhill was commissioned to make the jeweled
creatures, pictures of which can be found here:

The jewels will be on display in Tucson from February 10-13 at the
Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Show. The Web site shows other dates
and locations.

According to the Web site: "To find one of these fabulous jewels,
decipher the clues in A Treasure's Trove and go to an exact location
to find a gold token. The gold token will give you the information
you need to get your jewel. Twelve gold tokens, each one redeemable
for one of the 12 jewels, are hidden in 12 separate locations across
the continental USA. The tokens are located so that at least one is
within a days's drive of anyone in the continental USA. The tokens
are not hidden on private property, or in dangerous places, but in
places accessible to everyone. The tokens are not buried. Nothing
has to be moved or lifted to find them." This sure sounds like fun to
me. Have any other Orchidians heard about this? Is anybody
participating?

My best friend got me the book for Christmas when the author andjewels were hosted in Phoenix. It's a darling book and veryexciting to think that 12 amazing pieces of jewelry can be had. Ikeep picking up the book and wishing I were one of the Mensa folks!If wishes were horses.....sigh

Marta, now in Georgetown, CA - surrounded by wonderful trees and critters

Just for your both my wife and I are Mensans, and it
ain't nothing special.

Mensa is basically a social club for people who do very well on I.Q.
tests.

Doing well on I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for doing
well on I.Q. tests.

I enjoy going to Mensa functions because I can always find several
intelligent discussions going on, BUT, other than their I.Q.s, the
people are a mix of pretty normal and pretty weird (just like MOST
parties.

What you describe as intelligent discussions, are the same ones that
I find with artists. The IQ's are pretty up there, but you are right,
Mensa to me only proves you are adept at tests. My SAT scores rivaled
my shoe size. I don't take tests well at all. I skated through high
school, bs'ng my teachers and finding the loopholes in the system.
In our senior year, we were able to sign up for classes, similar to a
college system. I figured out that if you didn't sign up for a
particular time slot, say the period after lunch, you basically
disappeared off the grid and nobody found out. My lunch time was an
one and half hours, plenty of time for a nice stretch on the beach
with a book. I graduated with honors.

You can't "test" for this kind of kid, but thank Buddha they arrive
at my school. They are the ones who are savants at the bench because
nobody in high school in Massachusetts tests for dexterity,
ingenuity or creativity. Today, school kids in Massachusetts are
trained to remember dates and names, which is fine if you want to
excel at Trivial Pursuit.

One of my favorite college art professors taught modern art history.
We spent a lot of time learning the names of artists and the year
that their work was completed. Ok fine I said, Picasso and Braque
painted much of his seminal work in Cubism in the 1910-20's. Big
whoop. Ah, but when I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum (where
everyone should go at least once), everything changed for me. The
Philly Art Museum arranged its exhibitions in groupings by 2-3
decades. Paintings were with furniture, sculpture or examples of
family living. Seeing Picasso and Braque's work in this context made
me understand how forward thinking these two artists were. It all
made sense to me, because the artwork had context.

My point is, unless you combine the stories with names and the
dates, reading, writing and arithmetic won't mean anything.

David Barsilay said it well: Just for your both my wifeand I are Mensans, and it ain't nothing special. Mensa is basicallya social club for people who do very well on I.Q. tests. Doing wellon I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for doing well onI.Q. tests.

I'd add that Mensans usually understand four syllable words anddon't consider their use pretentious... Judy in Kansas, where thatOl' Man Winter is back breathin' down my back! Can't wait to get toTucson.

Just for your both my wife and I are Mensans, and it
ain't nothing special.

I am too, and I agree!

Mensa is basically a social club for people who do very well on
I.Q. tests.

Right! It started out with grandiose ideas of research, but ---.I've decided that this was inevitable, in an organization whereeveryone is at least capable of being a "chief" -and many of themwant to be!--, and no "indians!" And without some other interests incommon, as are found in most organizations.

Doing well on I.Q. tests ONLY means that one has a talent for
doing well on I.Q. tests. <g>

<:-}} Yes, I think the psychologists haven't figured out just whatthey are measuring, or want to measure!

I enjoy going to Mensa functions because I can always find several
intelligent discussions going on, BUT, other than their I.Q.s, the
people are a mix of pretty normal and pretty weird (just like MOST
parties.

The parties I went to (this was in the early days of Mensa -- andalso in the LA area) turned out to be mostly a few people trying toshow how smart they were. A person (and often he was a guest who hadtried to get in but flunked the test, and was trying to show what amistake Mensa had made!) would pick some obscure subject he wasreally expert at, and that nobody else happened to specialize in, andbore everyone to tears with that. And I think that, generally, that'snot what people (even smart people) really want. Anyhow, I droppedout pretty quickly.

I hadn't heard about "A Treasure's Trove," but I have seen otherversions of the idea of a book filled with clues to a hiddentreasure. One of my favorite books as a kid (I still have it!) wasKit Williams' "Masquerade," in which the illustrations, as well asthe verses, held clues as to the location of a golden brooch in theshape of a hare, hidden somewhere in the U.K. I'm sure that someonemust have found the bauble by now, but the book is a treasure initself - the illustrations are stunning, just absolutely lusciouswith details obvious and otherwise.

Kit Williams has since published at least one other book along thesame vein - can't recall the title, but I'm now kicking myself fornot buying it when I saw it in that used bookstore...

My best friend is bipolar and he is a genious one of our mutaualfriends is an electrical engineer and cant accept the fact that bobis a whole lot more intelligent than him they have taken I Q test andbob blows him away but my friend bob being the genious that he isexplained it to him like this." you have a job a house and a car youalso have a wife and two kids I am an ex con living in a studioapartment and have no car and no job no wife and no kids who do youthink is smarter" Bob graduated from college with a philosphy degreeand is the most interesting person in the world to talk to. Iunderstand what genius is by knowing him but I am not able to put itin words other than to say that when we play games he has all hismoves figured out before we start and his moves determin my moves sohe always wins unless he gets tired of winning and lets me cheat.

I definitely agrre with those of you who understand about high IQs.I have 2 children-a 19 year old son and a 22 year old daughter. Myson is of average to above average intelligence, scored well in highschool, is very laid back, is very talented musically, is liked alotby all who meet him, and works at an everyday, ordinary fulltimejob. He seems to be relatively happy in his life.Whereas my daughterhas scored so high in testing that she is practically forced intospecial programs at college, yet she is nearly sociallynon-functional, with almost no friends, struggles to keep jobs atmenial tasks, can hold lengthy discourses in literature, math,sciences, and theoretical subjects, and lives in her own littlestrictly organized world. Her intelligence level has proven to be ahandicapping liability, rather than an asset. When she does manageto find a friend, it usually doesn't last long, and those who havestuck around, are all ones that most of us would consider to beextreme pocket-protector wearing nerds- those who can hold the samekinds of discussions. Generally we believe that even when she istrying her best to fit in, she tends to intellectually intimidatepeople subconsciously. After seeing her struggles in life, Iwouldn't wish super intelligence on anyone.

Ed, I can definitely empathize with your daughter. From Kindergartenthrough second grade, I was in the New York City school system, andput into advanced placement classes (they still had them back in theDark Ages.) When we moved to the suburbs, I didn't 'fit in' with mythird grade class, so I was skipped into the fifth grade. Ithampered my social development from then on.

I have since developed a personal crusade to try to 'talk them outof it' when a friend relative or even a STRANGER, is contemplatinghaving their child skip a grade.

I have since developed a personal crusade to try to 'talk them out
of it' when a friend relative or even a STRANGER, is contemplating
having their child skip a grade.

I held back on this subject, partly because it isn't aboutmetalsmithing, but I can't keep my "mouth shut" another moment.

I'm sorry, of course, to hear about anyone suffering from notfitting in, and intelligence is certainly no guarantee of happiness.But it's no handicap, either! The super-intelligent child whosuffers through life is not necessarily suffering solely because ofintelligence-- and plenty of "super-intelligent" people contributemore than their fair share to progress in this world! It may be amistake to move a kid forward two grades without the needed supportin non-academic areas, but it is surely a mistake to make anadvanced student miserable in boring, unchallenging classes becausethey may not fit in socially. (This was me-- I was not allowed toadvance to where I belonged academically because I was tiny andlooked immature. My mother wisely-- and at great personalsacrifice-- sent me to private school. I didn't fit in theresocially, but it got me into the University of Chicago, where I fitin at last.)

I was also labeled as gifted, but in math in the fifth grade. Myteached demanded that I skip a grade, but just in math. Ever sincethen, I have been terrible at math, always sure I have no idea whatI'm doing and anything much more complicated than basic algebraeludes me. I too try and dissuade people from having their childrenskip a grade!

Generally we believe that even when she is trying her best to fit
in, she tends to intellectually intimidate people subconsciously.
After seeing her struggles in life, I wouldn't wish super
intelligence on anyone.

Ed in Kokomo

Oh Ed -- it's not her hyperintellect that is the issue; it is herlack of socialization. As the oldest, she probably interactedmostly with adults when she was very young. That tends to create achild who wants to please and impress, rather than one who wants toplay and interact.

My son tested as a genius (he's now 21). He was an only child, so Iused to take him to the park every day to play with other kids hisown age. As you might guess, little kids are all over the map withsome being nice, and others being little felons-in-the-making. Byinteracting with a diverse population, he learned the social skillsto be able to communicate with all types of people. He still hasthose skills, and because of them, lots of friends.

(I have to say, though, he certainly didn't turn out to be thepocket-protector type. He's very intelligent but very charming. Heis majoring in Information Systems Management; and at 21, he alreadyhas five patents and a musician girlfriend -- lol.)